PINKROOM

Their music is a pretty emotional experience, I am sure the band members have sublimated a wide range of emotions and feelings into the Pinkroom sound, from despair and loneliness to anger to aggression. I often notice a lot of tension in the music, very captivating and compelling! Listening to this album bands like Porcupine Tree and Riverside come to my mind in the mellow parts. And in the more heavy parts I think about King Crimson, in my opinion their main source of inspiration.

Twanging guitar in the intricate first track Path Of Dying Truth : sensational break with mindblowing contrast between the heavy guitar riffs and the soaring violin-Mellotron.

More twanging guitar in Moodroom v. 2 : wonderful cello and short but powerful trumpet sound.

A biting electric Fripperian guitar in the alternating Quietus, from swinging to propulsive.

And especially the fiery and aggressive sound in Stonegarden (propulsive guitar and drums and fiery guitar leads) and Days Which Should Not Be (great tension and beautiful conclusion with violin).

In the other five tracks Pinkroom also succeed to keep my full attention and to surprise me, often by sudden changing climates: from dreamy and sultry to heavy and aggressive with harder-edged guitar work ( reminding me of Metallica) and a thunderous rhythm-section. Like from the dreamy Curse (with soaring keyboards, all sorts of sounds and fragile piano play) to the next song 2am that blew me away (featuring exciting rock guitar and powerful drum beats). And after the heavy and bombastic eruptions in Days Which Should Not Be, you can enjoy the mellow Floydian-like ballad Recognized with fine acoustic rhythm guitar and warm vocals. Frequently the tracks are blended with samples and distorted vocals and instruments, this adds an extra, a bit psychedelic and hypnotizing dimension to the Pinkroom sound.

If you are up to compelling progrock with Heavy Prog and some prog metal elements, this is an album to discover.

The basic lines, the concept art is the same but with more creative maturity. It is one of the groups does not offer a new musical approach, but is the most interesting in recent years. Maybe I'm too enthusiastic but I love them.

Particularly I find the sixth track "Enslaved" is an excellent song, which in Spanish would call "un temazo"

I encourage to discover the band. In their website you can purchase the new album

Four stars of, dare I say it, "excellent" heavy prog.(!)

Pinkroom are labeled here as heavy prog, though I hear a lot of post rock, post metal, experimental metal, and even a bit of tech or industrial. Basically, their music embodies much of the modern progressive rock genres. If at any point they do anything retro, it's in the interesting instrumental "Moodroom v.2" which includes a jazzy trumpet solo and some mellow cello, a piece which some reviewers have stated is reminiscent of King Crimson.

Many of the songs go through tempo changes, starting with clean electric guitar and a melancholic atmosphere before abruptly shifting to a crunching heavy riff with a crazy odd beat. The songs will change gears again, often a few times. The riffs are metallishly mad, really cool stuff, at times. This is where I am reminded of Porcupine Tree's "Deadwing", songs that have a calm, eerie or melancholic mood that then evolve into heavy metal riffing before shifting again. By the third listen, however, I also felt there was some "Heritage"-type Opeth there (see drumming comment below), and a bit of Baroness in parts, but without the sludge-style vocals. There's also a part in "2am" that reminds me of classic prog-metal era Voivod. And of course, as many have already mentioned, there's some Riverside in the music too. Add to that the very talented drumming with a distinctive jazzy shuffling flare and you get an overall exciting mix of sounds.

A couple of songs start out with the heavier guitar, like "2am" and "Days which should not be", very much metal tunes until they change over to clean electric guitars. "Quietus" is the one truly different track here, an instrumental that's slow and ambient with piano keys and atmospheric guitar effects, a lot like mid-90's Porcupine Tree.

Back to the vocals, there are times when they sound very commonplace, almost like some of the milder alternative bands that came out of the 80's. But you might notice the accent in the English, something that sometimes adds a bit of appeal.

If there's anything I have to say critically about the album is that I find most of the songs follow a similar formula and tempo. Aside from "Quietus", the songs pretty much stay mid- tempo, nothing too slow or too fast. And most songs follow the clean guitar beginning with heavy guitar added in when necessary. But that's just the basic framework. Within each song there are some wonderful odd time signatures and bizarre beats, sudden stops and starts, and a general avoidance of standard song structure. Pinkroom have done a darn good job of their debut, and with very clean and clear production as well.

I found this album while exploring iTunes' "related" albums when I was checking out another band of similar ilk called In the Silence. They are not on PA yet, but the CD is on order and once I have heard it all the way through I'll see about recommending it for inclusion to this illustrious site if it fits the criteria.

Anyway, final conclusion, 4 stars and a very solid 4 at that for Pinkroom's "Psychosolstice" (love the title!).

We will find influences of PORCUPINE TREE, KING CRIMSON (especially the 80's KC, when Fripp started its work with the school Guitar Craft), PINK FLOYD (in their line more melodic, not psychedelic) and also TOOL, OPETH or UNOMA.

This cd really is a diamond that deserves to have a greater impact it has had so far. For me this is one of the most promising of Central progressive outlook, which normally does not work as modern.

Well, now I am a big fan. At its website you can buy for 6.5 ? plus shipping. I assure you that nobody gives much for so little.

From the other reviews I've read of this album, I was led to believe that this band sounded like a mix of Riverside and Porcupine Tree. I can certainly hear where they might be coming from, and it wouldn't come as much of a surprise if a good bit of inspiration came from those two bands, but I feel they do a good job of melding their influences together and adding their own touch to it. And besides, there is totally more King Crimson influence on this album than either of those two other chumps combined! C'mon, folks... get with it. *Ahem* As I was saying, yes... there are some pretty clear influences present on this album, but don't let that detract you from checking this album out. Besides, if you ask me, I feel as though the songwriting and musicianship on this album hands down beats the daylights out of a certain band's so-called "55-minute long epic" album that also came out in 2009 (I am, of course, referencing Porcupine Tree's "The Incident"), but... I digress.

So, how to actually describe the music on this album (outside of "amazing", that is)... Well, it's got a good balanced between laid back and atmospheric pieces ("2AM"), heavy rockers, ("Buried Hopes" / "Curse"), Crimson-esque guitar interlay ("Moondroom"), and everything in between. The band only has two permanent members-- Mariusz Boniecki on guitar/keys as well as on vocal duties, and Marcin Kledzik on drums/percussion-- with a handful of guest musicians filling in the gaps. Apparently, and I found this especially interesting, there quite a few improvised bits scattered throughout the album, despite sounding like a very structured record.

Pinkroom is at the very top of my bands to look out for, and I'm really excited to see what else they have up their sleeves.

Sound-wise, it's almost like a cross between Porcupine Tree and Katatonia, with big hints of Opeth thrown in. Although it's not quite as dark as Katatonia or Opeth, it does present its fair share of emotion, and it doesn't have any of the so-slow-and-mellow-it's-painful boring parts I find in Porcupine Tree albums. The production is great, crystal clear with prominent bass and very clean drums. The vocals aren't overpowering - they fit in just right.

Clean vocals throughout, the album deftly switches from clean parts with a strong bass groove to heavy, distorted passages, even throwing in a few discordant runs and harsh segments. Overall a very strong album, without a single track I would skip. The band isn't afraid to just groove and let their instrumentals really grow and develop before putting the vocals back in, and they transition between everything extremely well.

Path of Dying Truth is a great opener. It pretty much highlights all the best qualities of the band's sound, ranging from clean, groove, mellow, to heavy, distorted, intense chords and riffs. The cello at the end of "Days Which Should Not Be" really shows off how the composition skills of the core duo extend beyond the usual guitar/bass/drums. There are also keyboards throughout the album which add a great deal of production thickness and atmosphere (the keys and cello on Quietus definitely add a TON of atmosphere). The intro to 2AM gets things moving pretty well and the percussive riff in the middle of the song is definitely a pattern you don't hear used all over the place. Every song is well-written and well-performed. This album is quickly moving up my favorites list, and I can't wait to see what these guys come up with next.

"Path Of Dying Truth" has become a favourite track of mine. Love the mood and atmosphere. It reminds me of OPETH's "Damnation" but it's not quite as dark or melancholic. Vocals are laid back and well done. Nice guitar solo before 6 minutes. "Buried Hopes" is mellow early with percussion and guitar but that is blown away rather quickly. It settles again when vocals arrive. Great sound here. Contrasts continue. "Dispersion" opens with drums and guitar before vocals join in. A heavier sound after 1 1/2 minutes as vocals stop. Contrasts continue. "Quietus" features this tribal-like drumming with vocals early. Love the instrumental section 2 minutes in that reminds me of RIVERSIDE. It kicks in before 3 1/2 minutes. Nice. Back to the tribal-like drumming late.

"2AM" is an instrumental. Lots of atmosphere to start as it's kind of spacey with a beat. Other sounds join in as it builds some but not a lot. The riffs kick in quickly on "Curse" with vocals right behind. It turns atmospheric then vocals and ripping guitar return. "Moodroom V.2" opens with bass, guitar and drums. This sounds almost "Discipline"-like as in KING CRIMSON. Horns join in and some cello before 2 minutes. Riffs after 3 1/2 minutes. Cello is back late. "Stonegarden" opens with samples and electronics. Keyboards then reserved vocals join in too. It kicks in before 3 1/2 minutes as contrasts continue. "Days Which Should Not Be" opens with abrasive guitar then it settles quickly with vocals and a beat. It gets heavier as contrasts continue. Cello 4 1/2 minutes in.

An excellent debut, and I know many out there will go nuts over this. A solid 4 stars.

This CD's major flaw is it sounds almost exactly like a Porcupine Tree record. It is both a good and bad thing. It's good because the quality of the album is top notch. The bad part is you could literally switch out the vocalist for Wilson and slap on the Porcupine Tree name and no one would know that half the Porcupine Tree band is not there. I have listened to every Porcupine Tree album and this Psychosolstice sounds like a mix of Porcupine Tree's older and newer work. I would love to rate this higher than a 4 because the album is excellent but I can't because it's just a ripoff of Porcupine Tree. So if you love Porcupine Tree you will love this album.